Back to school!

Back to school!

Well…so far, only one of mine has gone back to school but it’s a start I guess. Elsa and Emmeline go back Thursday.

Jude’s school just had a month off for Summer, literally August off school and it was fantastic. Long enough for him to eat us out of house and home but not too long that he was bored and irritable. If I compare last summer to this one, it’s like living with a different child. And isn’t it amazing to think that a year ago (on the 18th to be precise), Jude was going up for his trial day at this fantastic school!

Last summer Jude was nothing short of a nightmare. Melt downs every night that lasted several hours, throwing stuff, hitting out, crying and screaming and utter confusion that I couldn’t help him to rationalise. I was also in a very different place. My god, it was a struggle. I felt there was nothing I could do to help him so waiting for the trial day, the second trial day and eventually his “moving in” day was hugely welcomed. I was utterly desperate for help and thankfully, Jude’s school have helped with every step to where we are now.

So this summer holiday was more of a celebration of how well Jude has done over the year. He was given an award on the last day of term – “Most helpful Child” because of how he supports his peers, loves to help staff and engage in school life. Jude was so so proud to show everyone at home his award. He was also given a book by his two Teaching Assistants as we left on the last day of term, packed with photos of them together, activities Jude did in class and many of the certificates he was awarded through each term.

This summer, Jude really surprised us. There were days he didn’t want to go outside of the house but on other days, he left quite happily…as long as we were driving and not walking. He’s a lazy little minx at times.

Jude lost two teeth this summer holiday too and was super excited to place each one under his pillow to see what would happen overnight. Thankfully, our occasionally forgetful, Tooth Fairy remembered to pop along and on each occasion exchanged his tooth for a coin. Ironically, Jude then spent his money on sweets but shhh let’s not tell the dentist that one.

One day, Jude even came out to the shops with us on market day, when the streets are at their busiest. He was totally chilled as we wandered around the shops and even sat in the waiting room when Elsa was trying a few bits on. He’s still incredibly sensitive to people touching him and would claim he’d been hit when someone had simply brushed past him.

And now he’s back in his beloved school house with everyone he truly missed over the holidays. Thankfully, he didn’t ask for them until maybe a few days ago. We called them over the holidays once or twice so he could hear what they’d all been up to but he coped amazingly. So new term, a school uniform which he didn’t have before, a new teacher and completely new classmates. So far so good after two days which is such a relief <3